NASCAR's Life Lesson

This entry was posted on December 21, 2010 by Sports Traveler.

“If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’,” – anonymous cheater.

Of course, no self-respecting NASCAR driver would ever admit it, but come on, they all do it. With the margin of victory only a few tenths of a second, every team in every series is looking for that little edge.

Pushing the limits of cheating adds drama to one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

I guess the question teams need to ask themselves is whether the fine and loss of points is worth a win on Sunday.

I can’t help but think that the winner of any particular race put his car just a hair too low to the ground, or adjusted the spoiler just a tad more than allowed. The drama mounts at the post-race inspection…will he get caught?!

If drivers don’t try to adjust their cars beyond the allowable limit, do they really want to win bad enough?

The cheating vs. trying battle isn’t strictly NASCAR. Talk to Sammy Sosa’s corked bat (or his steroids?). Talk to Cecil Newton, who put a price tag on his BCS Championship Game-bound son Cam Newton (allegedly). Talk to the recently-fired Josh McDaniels, who videotaped a San Francisco 49ers pre-game walk though. Those guys got caught, but how many other didn’t?

Is cheating just the way it is in sports? In life? Are cheaters the minority or majority?

All these questions are impossible to answer, of course. But for me, I say everyone cheats in some capacity (do you always drive the speed limit in the race to work?). It’s the ones who can bend the rules just far enough to avoid detection and gain that slight advantage that could end up in the proverbial winner’s circle.

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